Scott took Kendra's phone. The woman waited patiently, with an eager smile on her face, as he got the camera app ready.
"Don't 'accidentally' switch to selfie mode," Kendra teased him. "I want us both to react to our faces at the same time!" Her giggle was as charming as it was unnerving for Scott. In his mind's eye, he imagined his face looked downright clownish: a sickeningly cute pastel purple and a painted-on smile, like some abomination from a preschool kid's show. He thought perhaps, instead of whiskers, the woman had painted hearts on his cheeks.
"Ready," he grunted. With Kendra squarely in focus, he pressed the record button.
"Are you all ready to become a pretty pink kitty-cat?" the face-painter asked.
"Yes, please!" Kendra reciprocated the woman's enthusiasm. Her legs kicked excitedly, dangling from the stool.
"Okay, here we go!" The woman dipped her paintbrush in a bottle of pink paint. Scott noticed that it looked like the same brush she used for his purple makeup. Yet, when it emerged from the paint, it didn't leave behind a trace of any other color. All he could see on the bristles was a big gob of hot-pink paint.
Too nervous to think about multiple things at once, he shook his head and shifted the camera back to his girlfriend, trying to hold it as steady as he could while the woman painted Kendra's face bright pink. She worked the brush effortlessly, each stroke applying the perfect amount of color to her face. There weren't even any traces of brush lines.
Soon, Kendra's face and neck were completely pink, except for the areas around her eyes, mouth, chin, and the tip of her nose. The woman switched to white paint and applied it to all of those spots, save for the nose. Kendra happened to be wearing a V-neck shirt, so she also had to paint the visible part of Kendra's collarbone and chest, to make sure none of her skin was left bare.
"Just hold still a little longer, dear. We're getting to the delicate part." The woman spoke with a silky-smooth voice that oozed the kind of patronizing tenderness that Scott remembered hearing quite a lot as a toddler. "I know you're eager to see how you look. Just picture Scott's face, except pink. You're going to be a perfect match for each other!"
Kendra made a closed-mouth giggle, doing her best to contain her excitement. Her eyes darted over to Scott.
The woman then broke out a thinner brush and gave Kendra a black nose, black lips, a sharp, feline-like outline to her eyes, and little whiskers. She added a few touches of stripes around her face and the sides of her neck. Finally, using a wide, bushy brush with no paint on it, she fluttered it over the line between the pink and white paint on the lower part of Kendra's face to smudge the division, making for a convincing furlike texture. She repeated this step at the base of Kendra's neck, where the purple paint met the white of her chest.
Scott's mouth hung open. He forgot all about his nerves as he studied the woman's efforts. He carefully adjusted the camera's zoom to meticulously capture her movements both broad and subtle.
With the main part done, Kendra's arms and hands were given the same treatment, including the feathering to blend the black and pink paint for the illusion of fur. Scott got curious, so he looked down at his own striped arms. They had the exact same style of blending. He didn't remember her doing this for him, but maybe he had just been too distracted by how weird it felt to be painted like a cat. He would have to remember this technique for making low-budget creature effects.
"There!" the woman exclaimed proudly, beaming at the cat-faced cheerleader. She turned to Scott. "You can hardly recognize her, can you?" She seemed to detect his apprehension, as she cocked her head. "Don't worry about running into anyone you know here. They won't have a clue who you are! Have fun with it!"
Kendra jumped off the stool and snatched her phone back from Scott. "Okay, I'm gonna record us seeing ourselves for the first time." He watched her swipe the screen to activate the selfie camera, then before the screen itself changed, she quickly turned the phone away. "Okay, so, my boyfriend and I got our faces painted at the carnival. The woman here is doing animals, and I was like, 'we absolutely need to be cats! It's gonna rule!' This face painter is so good, fam." She gave a sincere smile and nod to the woman, who grinned back. "We haven't looked at ourselves yet. This is our genuine reaction. Okay, ready?"
Scott shook his head. The last thing he wanted was for all their socials to know about this. Kendra slid up against him and lifted up her phone. Scott felt his spine tense up.
Two colorful tigers stared at them through the screen. Scott was taken aback. His makeup looked really good. The woman had indeed used the same blending technique for his muzzle and stripes as she had with Kendra. Rather than a childish pastel color, Scott had a saturated purple that was almost as bold as Kendra's hot pink. It worked great with the black details and set off his white muzzle and eyes pretty well, giving a truly feline depth to his face. The black on the tip of his nose had an almost velvety look to it. No silly hearts, like he feared. His crisp whiskers and jagged stripes were sharp and realistic. Kendra's makeup was just as effective. They both looked fierce, although Scott moreso because of his nervous scowl, which was enhanced by thick-looking black lips.
Kendra's eyes went wide and she squealed. "Oh wow! RRRAWR!" She curled her free hand into claws and scratched the air in front of the camera. "This is amazing! I feel like a cat!" She cackled with glee. "Y'all, if you come to the carnival, you gotta try this. What's your name?" She asked.
"Lizbeth," the woman said pleasantly.
"Come to the carnival, look for Lizbeth. She'll do you right! Okay, laters!" She made a peace sign with her white-palmed hand and then turned off the camera.
She thanked Lizbeth, and Scott found himself genuinely thanking and complimenting her too.
She grinned from ear to ear. "You two are the sweetest things! Enjoy yourselves, kitties!"
As they walked away, Kendra pocketed her phone and clasped Scott's purple-and-white paw. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna upload that unless you're really okay with it. Thank you for playing along. I was sure you were gonna complain or duck out of frame or something once started recording."
"Actually," Scott said with a little hesitation. "I... kinda like it? A little. I thought we'd look silly."
Kendra cooed and leaned her head against his. "You are sweet sometimes." She straightened back up, looking into the distance. "Hey, let's check that out!" She doubled her pace, tugging him along.
"...'Sometimes?'" Scott whimpered.